March 10, 2022 8p
(WGTD)---The state Supreme Court has weakened a state law that prohibits hiring discrimination based solely on a prospective employee's criminal record.
By a vote of 4-3, the court, ruling in a Racine County case, said Cree Lighting was within its rights to refuse to hire a man named Derrick Palmer because he'd been convicted of domestic violence.
In an opinion written by Justice Jill Karofsky, the majority indicated that employers may block a hire by citing any negative "character traits" that they deem stem from a conviction. The Wisconsin Fair Employment Act allows discrimination in hiring if a prospect's conviction record "substantially relates" to the job being sought.
In the Racine Case, Palmer was in line to become a Cree "Applications Specialist"--a job that entailed designing and recommending lighting systems to customers. Cree expected such employees to operate largely independently and without close supervision.
The job offer was rescinded after Cree learned of the domestic violence convictions. Palmer had been accused of sexually assaulting and strangling his live-in girlfriend. The company presented an expert on domestic violence who testified that he believed that anyone who committed such crimes is predisposed to re-committing such violent acts in a non-domestic setting under the right conditions.
Palmer appealed the hiring decision to the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development's Equal Rights Division. The case wound up in the courts.
Thursday's Supreme Court ruling reversed an appeals court decision and Palmer's case was ordered dismissed.
In a dissenting opinion, three justices said the majority got the case wrong on several counts. They argued that any hiring decision rooted in generic "character traits" obliterates the "express policy of the Fair Employment Act" and that employers if they wanted to could block nearly anyone with a conviction from getting hired for most any job.
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